Author Archives: laststandonzombieisland

Why hello there, ELCO

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Lt. John F. Kennedy’s PT-59, photographed in an unspecified location near Vella Lavella and Choiseul, played a key role in the diversionary mission at Choiseul Island in early November 1943. Note the shielded 40mm Bofors on her stern and broadside .50-cals. (John F. Kennedy Library)

In case you haven’t seen it, USS PT-59, an S-Class (ELCO) Patrol Torpedo boat originally intended for Lend-Lease to the British in World War II (as PTC-27) she was instead placed in U.S. service.

Deployed to the Solomons with MTBRon 3(2) in 1943, the 77-foot PT boat in 1943 landed her torpedoes and gained an all-gun armament including two 40mm guns (fore and aft singles) and no less than 10 M2 .50 cal machine guns, used to help stop the regular “Tokyo Express” at Guadalcanal.

One of her skippers was a young JFK after he was recovered from the much more famous PT-109.

While Kennedy’s life is well-chronicled, PT-59, reclassified as C102584, was transported back to the Motor Torpedo Boat Training Base in Rhode Island in late 1944. Used for tests at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, she was sold in 1947 on the private market and, after a mixed career, sank at a pier adjacent to the 207th Street railroad bridge in Harlem following a fire around 1976.

Now, what is left of her wreck (she was of wooden construction after all) has been identified and is being raised by MTA crews.

Historians at the Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts, home of the USS Massachusetts (BB-59) and the National PT Boat Memorial and Museum, are assisting with the efforts to preserve what is left.

From the Museum:

Battleship Cove was contacted by NY MTA regarding the possible salvaging of a PT boat. We sent a team of volunteers to identify and remove items from PT-59s remains to save as much as we could for display and preservation in our extensive PT Boat exhibit. For the most part, all that remained of PT-59 in 2020 was the very lower portions of the engine room and lazarette areas. Some of the wood even at this lower level presents burn marks from the fire.

The enclosed circle in red shows the main sections of the boat that we have recovered for preservation. It is only a small section of the 77′ boat but also an original section as she was built.

We are still working on this project with more hull section recovery planned.

We feel this completely volunteer-led project is worthwhile. To save historic items from a very early combat veteran PT Boat is of great importance. Add to it that President JFK turned the helm to move the rudders and shafts that are being recovered is a bonus for history.

To donate to the effort, click here. 

It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this

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These early Civil War cabinet photos of both a Union volunteer, left, and a Confederate one, right, show both with .36-caliber Colt Model of 1851 “Navy” revolvers, each one almost assuredly purchased on the commercial market rather than supplied by their respective commands. (Library of Congress)

As detailed by Mr. Francis A. Lord in the 1960s vintage Civil War Collector’s Encyclopedia, wheel guns were a-plenty with the volunteers headed to the sound of the drums, but they weren’t really useful.

Just prior to the war several types of revolvers were developed and patented. Probably the best known of these types in use was the Colt revolver, which monopolized the field for some time but others soon came into demand, such as Remington, Smith and Wesson, and Whitney. Thousands of revolvers were sold monthly, and the new recruit who did not possess a revolver either by his own purchase, or as a present from a solicitous relative, admiring friends, or enthusiastic business consultant was something of a curiosity.

Along with the pistol went a flask and bullet mould. It was not realized by the soldier or donors that by the time the government had provided him with necessary arms, ammunition, and equipment he would then be loaded with about all he could bear, without adding a personal armory and magazine. Veteran troops did not unduly burden themselves by adding revolvers to their load.

The troops of 1861 and 1862 took hundreds of revolvers only to lose them, throw them away, or give them away. Since many regiments were forbidden by their colonels to wear revolvers, a large number of revolvers were sent back home.

This phenomenon surely accounts for why so many near-pristine non-contract Civil War-era revolvers survive in collections today, handed down through the generations as “the gun great-great-granddaddy carried in the war.”

Because he likely sent that bad boy back home before marching off to campaign.

The SDMR isn’t vaporware afterall

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The Squad Designated Marksman Rifle (SDMR), a variant of Heckler & Koch’s 7.62 mm NATO G28/HK417, was selected in 2019 by the Army who will eventually receive between 5,000 and 6,000 systems, which will filter down to the squad-level when fully fielded.

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, was the first in the Army to receive the M110A1, with Joes fielding their guns this month.

The rifle is intended to fill the gap between the standard 5.56 NATO M4 and a dedicated sniper platform, a mission formerly held by accurized M14s.

The SDMR includes off set backup sights, a Geissele mount, OSS suppressor, Harris bipod, and Sig Sauer’s 1-6x24mm Tango6 optic. (Photo: U.S. Army)

More in my column at Guns.com 

Fighting Fitz and Big John are back

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Last week, the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) sailed out of Ingalls after a three-year saga of being put back together following the collision with container ship MV ACX Crystal on 17 June 2017. She is now headed back to her regular homeport of San Diego for a return to service with the Pacific Fleet.

She dedicated a Remembrance Passageway to the seven Bluejackets lost in the incident and flies a special flag in their honor, recalling the 1813 dying command of CPT James Lawrence aboard USS Chesapeake.

190617-N-BR740-1106 PASCAGOULA, Miss. (June 17, 2019) The crew of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) unveiled a commemorative flag on June 17, 2019, during a remembrance ceremony honoring the Sailors who died in a collision in the Sea of Japan on June 17, 2017. The flag, designed by current crew members, is blue with “DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP” emblazoned above the names of the seven Sailors. (U.S. Navy photo by Samantha Crane/Released)

Similarly, the crew of the USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), Fitz’s sistership, successfully completed basic phase certification, June 2, following months of training and preparation to return the ship and its crew to operational status. As you will recall, McCain has been sidelined for repairs and extensive, accelerated upgrades over the last three years, following a collision in August 2017.

Lighting Up the Cagayan Valley, 75 Years Ago

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Here we see an M1 (M114) 155mm howitzer firing in the Cagayan Valley, some 75 years ago today.

Original Signal Corps Number: SWPA-SigC-45-19514. Photographer: T/5 Jime Harvey NARA 111-SC-209341

Original Caption: “Jap(anese) are pounded hourly by harassing fire from 155mm Howitzers of Battery C – 80th Field Artillery Battalion on the night of June 22nd in the Cagayan Valley, Northern Luzon, Philippine Islands, 6th Army.”

Commanded for most of the campaign by Prussian-born Gen. Walter Krueger– who emigrated to the U.S. with his family at age eight and later fought in the Philippines in the 1900s as a private in the 12th INF Rgt — the U.S. 6th Army would slug it out across Northern Luzon against Lt. Gen. Tomoyuku Yamashita’s 14th Area Army until after the official surrender in Tokyo.

In this push, the U.S. was aided by elements American-supported Filipino soldiers including several divisions of reorganized guerrillas– who received fires support from U.S. air and artillery assets.

Workhorse Wheelgun: Colt Trooper

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These days everyone is obsessed with the collectible Colt “snake guns” of the 1950s-80s. You know, the Pythons, Diamondbacks, Anacondas, Cobras and the like.

Well, the thing is, Colt also made a great six-shooter alongside all of those in the same factory and it remained popular enough at the time to see widespread use with not only police but also the consumer market.

The Trooper.

This circa-1965 Colt Trooper is a good example of the I-framed 4-inch .357 Magnum variants offered at the time.

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Happy Father’s Day, Gentlemen

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“His seven sons hoist father Clarence F. Patten, F1c, USN, into the air, onboard USS NEVADA (BB-36), following his enlistment into the Navy, 9 September 1941. Present are (left-right): Myrne, Ray, Allen, father, Bruce, Gilbert, Marvin, and Clarence, Jr. All were members of NEVADA’s crew.”

NH 45468

Notably, the above happy image was in peacetime and less than three months away from the Infamous Day that brought lasting sadness to Battleship Row.

Nevada, the only dreadnought to get underway during the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 December and ended the morning run aground on the Navy Yard side of the channel off Hospital Point, just south of Ford Island, lost 57 officers and men of her 1,500 man crew that day and over 100 more were wounded.

Amazingly, the list of the fallen that day does not contain a single “Patten.”

Hold your family close, gentlemen.

Happy first day of Summer: King Armored Cars in the Caribbean

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While the Marines are quickly shedding most of their heavy armor, it should be pointed out that they intend to still keep some lighter stuff like Amtracs and LAVs, at least for now.

With that, and with a hat-tip to the fact that today is the first day of summer, there is no better time than to mention the Marine armored unit that was deployed downrange 100 years ago.

Meet the King Armored Car (USMC Photo)

1st Armored Car Squadron was organized in 1917 and equipped with five Armored Motor Car Company (AMC)-produced King armored cars.

The King wasn’t particularly fearsome, but you had to keep in mind that for Great War-era armor it wasn’t that bad, mounting a single Lewis gun or M1895 Potato Digger, it had enough armor to protect it from small arms fire– the Marines even tested it by reportedly popping the side of one with a .45ACP without penetrating.

Attached to the 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Base Brigade in 1919, they served in the Dominican Republic until deactivated in 1921. The unit left most of their Kings behind in Hispanola where the locals used them in one form or another until the 1930s.

King Armored Cars, Dominican Republic, 1919 (USMC Photo)

The sole Marine King armored car is on display at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, and it has a .45ACP-sized dimple in the side.

Catching Flak

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U.S Navy and Air Force tactical aircraft operating over North Vietnam in the early stages of the involvement in the South East Asian conflict in the mid-to-late 1960s faced an ever-increasing array of Soviet/Chicom-supplied air defenses ranging from eyeball-guided 12.7mm Dshk guns to the latest S75/SA-2 SAMs manned under the eye of Western experts and everything in between.

Some young aircrews even had to brave weapons their forerunners had to dodge over Western Europe in 1942-45. Specifically, among the Communist military aid delivered to Hanoi was at least 70 former German Luftwaffe/Wehrmacht 88mm Flugabwehrkanone delivered to the NVA in the mid-1950s from Moscow.

The Flaks were withdrawn in the late 1960s as the supply of ammo, out of production since 1945, dwindled. However, if you told me there was a warehouse full of these around Hanoi, perfectly preserved, I would not be surprised.

The big 88s were delivered alongside boatloads of MG42 machine guns, Kar98K Mausers, MP40 submachine guns, and Walther P-38 pistols, which came with millions of rounds of 7.92mm and 9mm ammo, all complete with funny little dirty bird markings.

For American forces facing VC irregulars and NVA regulars on the ground, 1965 seemed a lot like 1945 in some ways, with former vintage Soviet, Japanese, and French small arms often captured in secondary amounts when compared to Warsaw Pact-supplied German trophies from WWII.

A lot of former German guns captured in the hands of VC in Vietnam showed signs of being arsenal re-worked and assembled post-1945 from several different firearms and parts, such as this MP40.

New-made Chinese Type 56 AKs didn’t become the standard until the war matured.

The kebab of the 1520s

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A fine British cavalryman of the 17th (Glory or Death) Lancers in the early 20th Century. Swagger for days.

Of course, the Brits used lances going back to the days of old-school 100 Years War heavy cavalry.

With that in mind, the Royal Armouries has been doing a great series on Tudor-period tournaments. The below, featuring historian, jouster, and expert lance maker Mark Griffin from Griffin Historical, holds class on how to make a tournament lance so that “You don’t kebab your opponent.”

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